Today we celebrate the life of St Pius, more commonly known as Padre Pio. Saint Padre Pio died in 1968 and is a modern-day saint. Most notably he experienced the Stigmata from 1918 to his death. He had many ecstatic visions and levitation.
I compare Padre Pio to another Saint who had a feast day recently. Saint Joseph Cupertino from the 17th Century who had a feast day September 18th. St Joseph Cupertino is one of my favorite Saints. He too experienced ecstatic visions and levitation. Saint Joseph would think of Jesus and it would set off a vision and he would levitate. He was banded from saying Mass in public and was even ordered by a Pope to stop levitating.
I have never levitated. However, many years ago when I was on retreat and deep in prayer, I did have a vision of “tongues of fire” over all the people in the prayer chapel. It never happened again before or after. The fact that Padre Pio experienced visions or levitation did not make him or anyone else a Saint.
I have a friend ,Marla, who is the wife of a Catholic Deacon in Florida who never smiles. She has the joy of the Lord in her but can not show it in any way but the way she lives her life. In her prayer group she gives talks about joy and her relationship with Jesus Christ but never smiles. Her husband, John, and her are a beautiful Catholic couple. One of their sons is a priest.
We are given the lives of Saints to encourage ourselves and others. The thing that we can do to emulate Padre Pio and other saints is to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. We all could experience the joy of knowing our personal Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the way we can experience the ecstasy and joy of the Saints.
How do we show our joy to others?
If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. for anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?
Our joy is in giving of ourselves. Some of us never smile or show the world we are happy or have the joy of the Lord in us. Others show that joy by giving their lives to others. We don’t live in a vacuum and have one part of our lives that is religious and the other worldly. The two parts are one. You can’t be for God and not know Him in the life we live.
How can we show joy even when we or those we love are hurting?
Padre Pio has two quotes to help answer this question:
“Pray, hope and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayers.”
“My past, O Lord, to Your mercy; my present to Your love; my future to Your providence.”
So today follow the example of Padre Pio. Don’t worry about the past or present. God’s will for our future. Thinking back at some of the nuns and other religious who taught me in school. They were calm, challenging and showed the joy of the Lord in giving of themselves. They never worried unless it was the outcome of a baseball game.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please pray for peace in the Ukraine. Pray for all Cancer victims and their caregivers.
